Malpractice crisis called hoax, a few docs blamed
The belief that the United States is in the throes of a medical malpractice lawsuit crisis can be blamed on just a small group of negligent doctors, says a new watchdog report.
According to "The Great Medical Malpractice Hoax," just 5.9% of doctors have been responsible for 57.8% of all medical malpractice payments, based on research spanning 1990 through 2005. The study found that each of these doctors made a least two payments, while conversely, the vast majority of physicians — 82% — have never even had a medical malpractice payment. The report was released by Public Citizen, an advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader and known as a critic of big business.
The real problems are a lack of attention to patient safety, the high incidence of preventable medical error, and the lack of accountability for a small set of doctors who account for most medical malpractice payments, says Public Citizen president Joan Claybrook. The report also presents several recommendations for Congress, state governments, and hospitals to reduce health care costs and save lives. (To access the report, go to the Public Citizen web site at www.citizen.org and select "publications" at the top of the page. Then scroll down the page to find "The Great Medical Malpractice Hoax" posted on Jan. 24, 2007.)
Not a surprise to some
The report confirms what he and many other plaintiffs' attorneys have contended for some time, says Allan Zelikovic, JD, head of the Medical Malpractice Unit at Weitz & Luxenberg, a law firm in New York City.
"We've been telling the legislature and the public about this for years. Now we finally have the data to prove it," Zelikovic says.
Public Citizen reviewed publicly available information from 1990 to 2005 from the federal government's National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which contains data on malpractice payments made on behalf of doctors as well as disciplinary actions taken against them by state medical boards or hospitals. According to the analysis, the total number of malpractice payments paid on behalf of doctors, with judgments and settlements, declined 15.4% between 1991 and 2005, and the number of payments per 100,000 people in the country declined more than 10%. In addition, the average payment for a medical malpractice verdict, adjusted for inflation, dropped 8% in the same period.
The numbers show that patients do not win large jury awards for less serious claims, but that payments usually correspond to the severity of injury, says Laura MacCleery, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch group. In 2005, less than 3% of all payments were for million-dollar verdicts, and more than 64% of payments involved death or significant injury — while less than one-third of 1% were for "insignificant injury."
Despite assertions by the medical and business lobbies that physicians are leaving practice because of burdensome malpractice lawsuits, the number of doctors is increasing faster than the population, MacCleery says. "In recent years, medical malpractice insurers have been reaping huge profits, not paying out excessive jury awards," she says. "The false claims of a malpractice lawsuit crisis are really about putting profits ahead of patients. They distract from real health care reform designed to improve patient safety, enhance efficiency and cut costs."
The belief that the United States is in the throes of a medical malpractice lawsuit crisis can be blamed on just a small group of negligent doctors, says a new watchdog report.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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